Front national is an economically protectionist, socially conservative nationalist party. The party was founded in 1972, seeking to unify a variety of French nationalism currents of the time. Jean-Marie Le Pen was the party's first leader and the undisputed centre of the party from its start until his resignation in 2011. While the party struggled as a marginal force for its first ten years, since 1984 it has been the unrivalled major force of French right-wing nationalism . The FN has established itself as the third largest political force in France, after the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and the Socialist Party (PS). The 2002 presidential election was the first ever in France to include a right-wing nationalist candidate in the run-off, as Le Pen beat the socialist candidate in the first round. Have you voted for or against Front national (FN) ? In the run-off, Le Pen nevertheless finished a distant second to Jacques Chirac. Due to the French electoral system, the party's representation in public office has been limited, despite its significant share of the vote. The current leader of the party is Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father in 2011.

Its major current policies include economic protectionism, a zero tolerance approach to law and order issues, and anti-immigration. Since the 1990s, its stance on the European Union has grown increasingly eurosceptic. The party's opposition to immigration is particularly focused on non-European immigration, and includes support for deporting illegal, criminal, and unemployed immigrants; its policy is nevertheless more moderate today than it was at its most radical point in the 1990s.

Some earlier party officials have historically been subject to controversy for occasionally promoting historical revisionism, specifically related to the Second World War.

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